LeetCode-in-Java

23. Merge k Sorted Lists

Hard

You are given an array of k linked-lists lists, each linked-list is sorted in ascending order.

Merge all the linked-lists into one sorted linked-list and return it.

Example 1:

Input: lists = [[1,4,5],[1,3,4],[2,6]]

Output: [1,1,2,3,4,4,5,6]

Explanation: The linked-lists are: [ 1->4->5, 1->3->4, 2->6 ] merging them into one sorted linked list: 1->1->2->3->4->4->5->6

Example 2:

Input: lists = []

Output: []

Example 3:

Input: lists = [[]]

Output: []

Constraints:

To solve the “Merge k Sorted Lists” problem in Java with a Solution class, we can use a priority queue (min-heap) to efficiently merge the lists. Here are the steps:

  1. Define a Solution class.
  2. Define a method named mergeKLists that takes an array of linked lists lists as input and returns a single sorted linked list.
  3. Create a priority queue of ListNode objects. We will use this priority queue to store the heads of each linked list.
  4. Iterate through each linked list in the input array lists and add the head node of each list to the priority queue.
  5. Create a dummy ListNode object to serve as the head of the merged sorted linked list.
  6. Initialize a ListNode object named current to point to the dummy node.
  7. While the priority queue is not empty:
    • Remove the ListNode with the smallest value from the priority queue.
    • Add this node to the merged linked list by setting the next pointer of the current node to this node.
    • Move the current pointer to the next node in the merged linked list.
    • If the removed node has a next pointer, add the next node from the same list to the priority queue.
  8. Return the next pointer of the dummy node, which points to the head of the merged sorted linked list.

Here’s the implementation:

import java.util.PriorityQueue;

public class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeKLists(ListNode[] lists) {
        PriorityQueue<ListNode> minHeap = new PriorityQueue<>((a, b) -> a.val - b.val);
        
        // Add the heads of all lists to the priority queue
        for (ListNode node : lists) {
            if (node != null) {
                minHeap.offer(node);
            }
        }
        
        // Create a dummy node to serve as the head of the merged list
        ListNode dummy = new ListNode(0);
        ListNode current = dummy;
        
        // Merge the lists
        while (!minHeap.isEmpty()) {
            ListNode minNode = minHeap.poll();
            current.next = minNode;
            current = current.next;
            
            if (minNode.next != null) {
                minHeap.offer(minNode.next);
            }
        }
        
        return dummy.next;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Solution solution = new Solution();

        // Test case
        ListNode[] lists = new ListNode[] {
            ListNode.createList(new int[] {1, 4, 5}),
            ListNode.createList(new int[] {1, 3, 4}),
            ListNode.createList(new int[] {2, 6})
        };
        System.out.println("Merged list:");
        ListNode.printList(solution.mergeKLists(lists));
    }
}

class ListNode {
    int val;
    ListNode next;

    ListNode(int val) {
        this.val = val;
    }

    static ListNode createList(int[] arr) {
        if (arr == null || arr.length == 0) {
            return null;
        }

        ListNode dummy = new ListNode(0);
        ListNode current = dummy;
        for (int num : arr) {
            current.next = new ListNode(num);
            current = current.next;
        }
        return dummy.next;
    }

    static void printList(ListNode head) {
        while (head != null) {
            System.out.print(head.val + " ");
            head = head.next;
        }
        System.out.println();
    }
}

This implementation provides a solution to the “Merge k Sorted Lists” problem in Java using a priority queue.

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